This invention relates to a hand-held crimper for securing a cap on a bottle. More particularly, the invention relates to a crimper of the type employing a plurality of radially disposed jaws or die segments and a reciprocable plunger movable between the segments to crimp the cap on the bottle.
In one crimper of this type, the die segments are located within a housing attached to a handle. A lever member secured to one end of the handle is pivotable toward and away from the handle to reciprocate a plunger within the housing. As the plunger is slid downwardly between the die segments, the lower edge portion of the cap is folded beneath a lip formed around the opening in the neck of the bottle.
One crimper of the foregoing type is disclosed in Koebbeman U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,032. In that crimper, the lever is located above the handle and is squeezed downwardly toward the handle in order to close the die segments. As the lever is squeezed downwardly, there is a tendency to pull the handle upwardly and this causes the crimper to tend to rock relative to the bottle. Such rocking interferes with smooth operation of the crimper and can produce non-uniform crimping from bottle-to-bottle.